Performance

The LG Nexus 5X is powered by a Snapdragon 808 chipset, which has been paired with an average 2GB of RAM (flagships these days are in the 3-4GB range). The chipset packs two fast Cortex-A57 cores at 1.82GHz and four power-efficient Cortex-A53 cores at 1.44GHz.

The GPU is an Adreno 418, not Qualcomm's best, but much better suited for a 1080p screen than the QHD screens that LG pairs it with.

Starting off with full system performance, Basemark OS II 2.0 ranks the Google phone quite close to the top-of-its-class Galaxy S6 edge.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

Apple iPhone 6s2195

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge1750

LG Nexus 5X1591

LG G41584

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact1440

Nexus 5 Lollipop974

HTC One A9944

AnTuTu 5 places the Nexus 5X somewhere between the old Nexus 5 model and the Galaxy S6 edge.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge70053

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact61481

Apple iPhone 6s59074

LG Nexus 5X51948

LG G449295

HTC One A940631

Nexus 5 Lollipop37774

The processor speed has gone up noticeably since the Snapdragon 800 days.

The HTC One A9, which runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow on a Snapdragon 617 chipset (octa-core Cortex-A53) lags well behind the Nexus 5X. If you ask us, the pricey HTC smartphone should have been equipped with a Snapdragon 808 to begin with.

Single-core performance is almost on par with the Galaxy S6 edge (same cores, different clockspeed) and even the multi-core performance is very good. Compared to the Snapdragon 810-packing Xperia Z5 Compact (two extra Cortex-A57 cores), the total result isn't very different.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge5095

Apple iPhone 6s4427

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact3796

LG Nexus 5X3527

LG G43509

HTC One A93209

Nexus 5 Lollipop2743

Basemark OS 2.0 (single-core)

Higher is better

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact6234

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge6173

LG G45871

LG Nexus 5X5808

Nexus 5 Lollipop4264

HTC One A92753

Basemark OS 2.0 (multi-core)

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge27703

HTC One A919160

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact17770

LG G417739

LG Nexus 5X17456

Nexus 5 Lollipop10382

The difference in raw processing power between the Adreno 418 (Nexus 5X) and the Adreno 430 (Xperia Z3 Compact) can be seen quite clearly in the off-screen graphics benchmarks results. Depending on the benchmark the gap can be quite massive - especially when the latest OpenGL ES 3.1 is involved.

At its native 1080p resolution, the Nexus 5X should provide enough oomph for 3D gaming (benchmarks are always much harder than games). You can see that the LG G4 struggles at native resolution and rendering at a lower one would negate the benefit of its QHD screen.

Basemark X

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge27046

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact23703

LG Nexus 5X16609

LG G415090

Nexus 5 Lollipop9786

HTC One A96617

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

Apple iPhone 6s39.5

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge26

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact25

LG Nexus 5X16

LG G414.9

Nexus 5 Lollipop9.1

HTC One A96.4

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

Apple iPhone 6s53.6

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact39

LG Nexus 5X17

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge15

Nexus 5 Lollipop10

LG G49.4

HTC One A96.7

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact18

LG Nexus 5X11

HTC One A93.8

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact38

LG Nexus 5X11

HTC One A94

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

Apple iPhone 6s879

LG Nexus 5X306

HTC One A9132

The JavaScript performance is well optimized and is about as good as Androids manage (the iPhone is well ahead).

In general web browsing the Nexus 5X beats most other Androids, even the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact, which boasts the beefier chipset (S810 vs. S808) and only has to render the web pages at 720p resolution.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

Apple iPhone 6s1737

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge3989

LG G44085

LG Nexus 5X4575

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact7868

Nexus 5 Lollipop9524

HTC One A911069

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge2702

LG Nexus 5X2241

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact2099

LG G41990

HTC One A91562

Nexus 5 Lollipop1440

The LG Nexus 5X provides great performance for its price, even getting into competition with 2015 flagships. The processor isn't the fastest, but comes close enough to modern flagships, even outperforming more expensive handsets. Similarly, the phone does great for 3D gaming and web browsing.